


'our children could be string instruments'

by beolbeulchii



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: A lot of Complaining, AU - Music School, Alternate Universe - Orchestra, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Crack, Duets, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Everyone Plays Instruments, Fluff, Light-Hearted, M/M, Na Jaemin-centric, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sexual Humor, Swearing, They Are All Classical Music Nerds, concertmaster! jeno, lapslock, literally no angst, this is all crack, unless you count petty arguments as angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:42:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24162283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beolbeulchii/pseuds/beolbeulchii
Summary: 'oh my fucking god you got the part almost 2 month ago na what is wrong with you? are you actually thick? yes we are practicing it today because mr kim thinks the second movement needs a break,' jeno scoffed, his grip on the manuscript tightening and raising it a little higher in the air. jaemin was eyeing it nervously, his hands fidgeting around his case handle.'haha okay sorry i'm late then salty ass, i'm heading off to practice,' jaemin ducked under jeno's arm and scurried off to the practice hall, not looking back to see a dumbfounded violinist still holding a book in the air.OR/ jeno and jaemin are orchestra enemies but are paired to do a duet for a competition... as you can tell they hate each other so its gonna be a long ass ride.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> i have recovered (slightly) from my angsty stage and i felt like writing something really light hearted and which isn't serious. :D

alarm bells.

no seriously, alarm bells. this kid had seriously set alarm bells as his custom phone ringtone. no wonder he hadn't even had his morning coffee and his heart was already racing. well there he was sitting bolt upright on his bed scrambling to pick up the ringing phone from his floor. 

he tipped it off by shock for your information.

'hello?' he panted through the phone, matting down his hair as if he were speaking to the other user in person. not looking like his current state he wouldn't but habits are habits. 

'if you don't want to get massacred and then roasted on top of a campfire as you are impaled on a giant bow by a certain Mr Kim,' the other user started a bit too passive aggressively, 'then i advise you wake up, get dressed and get over here in the next… 4 minutes or so. your welcome.'

yes he did hang up on the freshly awoken boy.

wait no, take that back, the alarm bells rang again. 

'what now?'

'oh yeah and jaemin. if you don't get here in 4 minutes or so, another certain lee jeno will jump you. and don't forget your cello this time either. okay bye and hurry up.'

the audacity jaemin thought to himself. but that thought was out the window as soon as he looked at the clock, its digital numbers blaring 09:46. exactly four minutes (or so) from 10:00 when the orchestra rehearsal started. 

everything next was a blur. and i don't mean that in the tacky way where everything was just moving fast but i can't write "fast" because that's not good vocabulary to use, i mean actually a blur. instead of forgetting his cello, jaemin being the time pressured idiot he is, forgot his glasses. 

his door frame was a blur, his cello case was a blur and you'd be surprised to hear that he didn't die running down the stairs from his studio apartment. all he was thinking was his own personal mantra of, 'mr kim is gonna kill me, lee jeno is gonna jump me. mr kim is gonna kill me, lee jeno is gonna jump me. mr kim is gonna kill me, lee jeno is gonna j-'

'-UMP ME, WHAT THE FUCK DUDE?' jaemin yelled, running head first into the chest of someone else. his butt was already starting to burn from fall impact, but the cold marble floors of the department block provided a nice make-do ice pack. he looked up as he aimlessly patted his hand for his cello case handle and squinted his eyes at the culprit. 

'dude stop with the death glares okay, i'm sorry i seriously didn't see you! you were like the flash i've never seen you run so fast haha,' the man, who we are identifying as johnny because jaemin can't see shit, said jokingly.

'oh man it's okay. help me up please. wait dude wait hasn't practice started?' jaemin asked as he was being hauled into the air by arms much stronger than his.

'well hendery and ten were playing with the french horns' mutes and accidentally gave chenle a mild concussion so mr kim is sorting that out,' johnny said sheepishly.

'chenle got a concussion. from a mute,' jaemin replied with a tone so dead even johnny flinched. it was too early for his orchestra's shenanigans. 

'he's a tiny guy okay cut him some slack. also it wasn't the actual mute, he kinda fell head first onto the tampini's, then the floor…' johnny died off, scratching the back of his own head as a form of sympathy. it switched jaemin's mood entirely though, with his eyes widening at the news.

'oh my god is he okay?? he isn't dead right??'

'no mild concussion. actually while we are on the subject of death, you might be.'

'huh?' jaemin said stupidly, head tilting to the side and eyes squinting even more.

'you might die. like, right now.'

jaemin continued staring, or squinting, at the taller boy dumbly.

'dude mr kim had to deal with shit and left the concertmaster in charge. and the said concertmaster has a book manuscript with your name written in blood all over it.'

jaemin visibly gulped, his adams apple bobbing as realisation struck like the pigeon that flew into him the other day. 'oh shit i gotta go.'

'yeah you might wanna do th-'

let's just say jaemin was saved the journey.

'oi na is that you? it is oh my fucking god where have you been hmm? oh hi johnny, taeyong hyung is looking for you, he needs a new reed.'

johnny stared at jaemin with wide eyes before saying, 'thanks,' and patting the boy's back, muttering a wish of good luck. jaemin groaned. 

'before you even start, lee, i'm technically not late. practice hasn't even started. i'm psychic,' jaemin added for good measure.

jeno looked baffled beyond belief, was this kid being serious?

'psychic huh? so you foresaw the fact that um, i don't know, hendery and ten only got distracted cause we were all waiting for your fatass to get here?'

'whoa jeno, take a chill pill okay. why were you waiting, we never wait,' jaemin asked, becoming more confused every minute.

'oh i don't know na, maybe because you have a soli? the whole ensemble has to wait for you so we can practice your part?!' jeno cried out, the book manuscript he was actually carrying waving closer and closer to jaemin's face with every dramatic action the concertmaster carried out. 

'oh yeah i have a soli…' jaemin chuckled lightly, but his face falling immediately after the words actually sunk in, 'oh my god i have a soli. we're practicing that today??' 

'oh my fucking god you got the part almost 2 month ago na what is wrong with you? are you actually thick? yes we are practicing it today because mr kim thinks the second movement needs a break,' jeno scoffed, his grip on the manuscript tightening and raising it a little higher in the air. jaemin was eyeing it nervously, his hands fidgeting around his case handle.

'haha okay sorry i'm late then salty ass, i'm heading off to practice,' jaemin ducked under jeno's arm and scurried off to the practice hall, not looking back to see a dumbfounded violinist still holding a book in the air. it was like being aired in real life, but not.

flashforward less than one minute where jaemin was rushing into the hall, pausing by the edge of the room to take out his cello. he walked carefully, but briskly towards his seat, holding his instrument close to his body while he maneuvered in between the stands. he was relying on his sense of touch and _feeling_ of the surroundings. successfully, he made it to his place and sat down, wincing when the cushioned padding didn’t stop the sharp spike of pain that shot up his spine; from his ass. his stand partner looked at him quizzically, contemplating whether or not he should say anything. he decided that he might as well.

‘uhh, you good hyung?’ nodding towards jaemin’s ass without actually looking at jaemin’s ass. he got no response, only a piercing gaze that would probably haunt his entire being for the rest of his life. the boy with the pained ass cocked his head forward to get a better look at the person talking to him, smiling when he identified the other. 

‘ah! jisung! yeah i’m fine, my ass feels a little rough but it’s nothing major,’ he giggled, pinching the younger boy’s cheeks (face cheeks, not ass cheeks). jisung looked mildly worried but this was jaemin hyung, and he knew now not to question anything. 

‘okay hyung if you say so,’ jisung returned to face their music stand, their score open as he added some new pencil markings. 

‘sorry to bother you jisung-ah, but can you play me an A? i haven’t tuned mine yet,’ jaemin asked apologetically, giving jisung a wide thank you grin as the younger boy started playing the A string. 

the pair were in the middle of tuning when mr kim finally returned, tapping the conductor’s stand to grab everyone’s attention. the atmosphere was transformed immediately, with everyone sitting down and no one talking, waiting to carry out mr kim’s order. 

‘first of all, chenle will be okay. he’s with the nurse at the moment but he will be in perfect shape in no time so don’t worry. secondly, jaemin, this is the second time you have arrived at rehearsal late this week and it’s only wednesday.’ 

jaemin stood up abruptly, bowing to mr kim and his fellow players, ‘sorry i have no excuse, it won’t happen again.’

mr kim smiled gently, ‘jaemin, we all know that it will happen again, just not anymore this week alright?’ at the front jaemin heard the familiar sound of a scoff from where the concertmaster was supposed to sit, and jaemin rolled his eyes internally. 

jaemin blushed from embarrassment but nodded enthusiastically. 

‘okay then, let’s begin.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woohooo!! first chapter done :D


	2. Two

the practice went… smoothly, but spell it like ‘sm00thL(ie)y’. basically it went borderline horrendous with half the players leaving from some sort of trauma and the rest leaving with Trauma. but we'll get onto that part later...

lets flashback. 

mr kim had just finished giving out notes before the rehearsal actually started, stating that they were to be practicing the soli in movement 3 which made every single pair of eyes turn to the boy whose ass was still hurting. to say jaemin felt under pressure was an understatement, but he liked to call himself professional for his age and just carried the stares with some disfigured form of pride. however one pair of eyes did stand out from all the rest; lee jeno’s. whose gaze was so sharp it was like the spikes of pain jaemin’s ass wa-

fine, i’ll stop with the ass jokes. 

the bombardment of attention was taken away with a few simple ‘ahems’ covered by coughs from mr kim’s mouth. 

‘we’ll start from the beginning of movement three as a warmup,’ and a chorus of groans rippled through the players, some violinists collectively playing “sad and sorrow” together which made a few people laugh out of grief. 

‘yes i am well aware that we have not come back to this section in a long time, but i expect that as dedicated orchestra students, you should have been practicing your parts every day. just try your best and i’ll give out as many cues as i can. and yuta, could you make sure that lucas doesn’t doze off this time. i think we all remember the last time when he missed the symbol crash,’ everyone laughed, but with lucas of course, as the boy seated amongst his instruments began clapping and sending thumbs up to his percussion mate. 

jaemin was smiling along with everyone else, however started composing himself to begin playing, focusing on the manuscript before the music would start.

except, he couldn’t focus. 

he forgot his goddamn glasses and the nearest contact lenses on the premises were renjun’s, but they were 4 degrees too weak. jaemin tried testing how far he could go while making sure that the notes didn’t look like unformatted blobs.

it wasn’t very far.

‘shit oh fucking shit. today of all days,’ jaemin muttered to himself, leaning back on his chair and looking up at the ceiling, which was also an unfocused sheet of beige. 

‘you okay hyung? you look distressed. if it’s about your main part don’t be stressed okay i’m sure you’re gonna do amazing,’ his stand partner reassured him.

‘thanks jisung, but that’s not the problem,’ he twisted to face jisung and pointed a bit too forcefully towards his eye sockets, ‘these are the problem.’

jisung pulled back a little, face frowning in concern for his senior. ‘what do you mean? your eyes look fine hyung.’

‘jisung, life lesson. it’s always the things that look ‘fine’ which are the ones which are utter bullshit okay,’ jaemin huffed, tapping his foot whilst trying to formulate a plan of evacuation to run home and grab his Thicc glasses. 

‘i’m still confused, are you saying you can’t see or something?’

‘yes! thats exactly what i’m saying! i can’t see for shit right now! i forgot my glasses and no way in hell did i have time to put in contacts, so right now i’m blind and can’t see anything. i can’t see anything clearly past your head,’ he swivelled to the front again, ‘and i definitely can’t see the music.’

‘ahh i see,’ jisung said before noticing jaemin giving him the squinty death look again, ‘no i meant as in i understand, i’m not flexing my vision hyung. i advise that you tell mr kim right now, before you embarrass yourself after messing up your part because you can’t read. i mean see.’ 

jaemin sighed, ‘yeah i guess you’re right. thanks jisung.’ he looked up again to raise his hand but a voice cut his actions short. 

‘i was wondering when you and jisung would stop the chitchat. is it something you wish to share with everyone?’ mr kim asked, voice covered in a fake layer of sweetness.

‘um,’ jaemin gave jisung a side glance, only to witness the blurred image of jisung cringing and looking the other way. “traitor” jaemin thought. ‘i was actually telling lovely jisung here that i am currently disabled, and i was going to ask you mr kim, for your permission to excuse me for around fifteen minutes.’ 

jaemin waited for mr kim’s sigh and eventual agreement, but the answer he got was nothing short of an irritant. 

‘really na? you arrive late and want to be excused after only being here for what, 10 minutes? mr kim, i doubt he is disabled ‘cause he ran here quite steadily. if i wasn’t paying attention, i would have thought it was someone on the track team.’

‘excuse me, lee, i’m asking our conductor, not the concertmaster, so please be quiet,’ jaemin gritted through his teeth, head still facing forward. a chorus of ‘ooh’ and shocked gasps filled the room, some people laughing at jaemin’s bold statement. they had all seen a scene similar to this before but they never ignored the chance to pull out the theatrics, especially in front of mr kim.

‘well excuse _me_ , na, but i think you really ought to start pulling your shi-,’

‘enough, both of you. jeno, as concertmaster i expect better behaviour from you. and jaemin, may i ask in what way are you currently disabled?' mr kim asked, his expression a mix between impatient, intrigued and confused.

'i can't see very well at the moment. i suffer from myopia and i forgot my glasses, so i can't see the music clearly enough to read it. im sorry mr kim i'll do better next time,' jaemin admitted, head hanging low and trying to control his temper from his previous standoff with jeno. the conductor sighed as jaemin predicted and thought for a whole. that is, until a lightbulb lit up in his head and he looked to his side to glance at jeno, who was still scowling and bouncing his violin on his leg impatiently. 

'alright jaemin you can go get your glasses,' mr kim started, and jaemin was already standing up to get out of his seat, 'wait i'm not finished.' the whole company looked at jaemin, then mr kim, anticipating what would happen next.

what mr kim said next sparked an eruption of excited and nervous whispers, with lucas crashing the symbols with shock as well. 

'since you can't see very well i don't want you getting in any accidents while on your way back home, so, jeno could you please help escort our cellist to his home.'

the two boys looked at each other in shock, and then disgust, jaemin already protesting to the older man.

'mr kim, jeno doesn't even know where i live, he could later stalk me! please, i am perfectly fine going on my own-'

'mr kim, my position in this orchestra is not to escort people like na jaemin back to their house during a practice,' jeno interrupted. 

'what do you mean "people like na jaemin"?'

'you know what i mean dumba-.'

'silence.'

the two boy shut their mouths, but still stared at each other intently (well jaemin was looking menacingly toward jeno's general direction), breathing heavily while the whole orchestra held their own breath.

'please do not argue against me. we have already wasted precious time and i want both of you back before the half hour. end of discussion,' mr kim said pointedly, eyes flicking between the two boys. 

'but-'

'end of discussion.'

'yes mr kim,' the two boys mumbled. jeno placed his violin and bow on his seat a little too aggressively, pushing past his stand and waiting by the exit door impatiently, tapping his foot loudly against the floor. jaemin however, with his cello, was struggling to place his instrument down safety without it slipping and crashing onto the floor.

'just go hyung, i'll take care of it,' jisung whispered, looking at jaemin tenderly while smiling as he stood up to take neck of his elder's instrument.

'thank you jisung-ah! you are an angel. i'll get you some mcdonalds after practice okay?' jaemin giggled back to jisung while winding through everyone's stands. he didn't see jisung's sneaky grin but he already knew the younger was wearing it.

'for fu-, i mean, goodness sake na hurry up,' jeno cried. 

jaemin scoffed aloud, bowing lightly while walking past mr kim and continued to storm past jeno, pushing the door and prancing through without alerting the other. they were already parading around the corner, but their cries echoed through the corridors bouncing back into the practice hall.

'don't rush the crippled lee.'

'oh for fucks sake you're not crippled. you wanna know what you are? a waste of my bloody time.'

'right back at you, you little shit.'

the doors finally closed shut and the whole orchestra relaxed, letting out a unified noise of relief. 'wait till they hear i've paired them up for the duet competition,' mr kim sighed, making the whole company chuckle, 'okay we can start without them.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all fyi, orchestra is not this laid back X_X,,,, or the ones ive witness aren't
> 
> but we love crackhead culture :D

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed this chapter! 
> 
> kudos and comments r always welcome!
> 
> [tt](https://twitter.com/beolbeulchii)


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